Blast Corps Hacking

[SunakazeKun]

Well, the editor is very limited at the moment because you can only edit US v1.1! Adding and removing objects doesn't work, but the editor does its job! It's very easy to use and the 2D map is very helpful. :3

I created a harder version of the Mars level. If you want to play it, I can send you a patch.

[SunakazeKun]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sfz_MYDgsA
http://neomariogalaxy.bplaced.net/files/download/BCusa2_MarsChallenge.zip

There you go!

[queueRAM]

(08-03-2016, 06:34 AM)Graviton Wrote: Wow this is very cool. I have been dying to make some more challenging levels for especially the speedrunning community. Thanks so much!

​

Thanks Graviton. I've enjoyed watching your and Peaches' speedruns. As SunakazeKun mentioned, currently the level editor is a little clunky with its 2D map and it only works with US version 1.1. However, I am currently working on a 3D editor and have plans to also patch US v1.0. If there is anything else you'd like to see, don't hesitate to post here.

Also, the speedrunning community might be interested in taking a closer look at the 3D terrain and collision data that can be exported by the editor (File->Export 3D Model...). I'm guessing that all the speed runners have found all the optimal routes already, but something might fall out of the examining the collision data more closely. I've only taken a close look at Simian Acres so far.

(08-03-2016, 04:25 PM)SunakazeKun Wrote: ​
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sfz_MYDgsA
http://neomariogalaxy.bplaced.net/files/download/BCusa2_MarsChallenge.zip

​

This looks great! I can only watch the video at the moment, but I look forward to playing it when I return later this week. Thanks for posting it.

[queueRAM]

Blast Corps Editor v0.0.4 Released

​Blast Corps Editor v0.0.4 Download
​Source Code and Project Page

Changelog:

• ​add support for extending (U) (V1.0) ROM
  
• ​use TreeView in UI for object list and common properties area
  
• ​create tools to add and remove objects from level
  
• ​add select and move tools
  
• ​handle filename passed in through command line argument
  
• ​update square hole geometry and fields
  
• ​add TNT texture drop down
  
• ​update display lists pointers
  

Thanks again to SunakazeKun for helping decode level data and testing.

[SunakazeKun]

Another thing that queueRAM forgot to mention is that bugs with square blocks were fixed as well.

[queueRAM]

There is one section of the level data that I can't quite make sense of. Level header offset 0x60 points to data only in Simian Acres (chimp.raw) and Angel City (lagp.raw). The data is read in as 4 coordinates (u16 << 5). If I interpret it is one X,Y,Z point and a Y height, the data somewhat fits the level, but I don't recognize what it could be used for. The strange thing is it is only used in these two levels which have very little in common.

For reference, the format of the data is:

[XX XX] [YY YY] [ZZ ZZ] [HH HH] [B8] [CC] {**} [DD] [EE]

Simian Acres has 5 fields, forming an arch that follows the hill slope under the bridge as depicted here:



Angel City is a bit more interesting, having 30 fields that show a zig-zag pattern. Interestingly, if I translate all these points on the X and Z axes, they line up almost perfectly with the street lamps on two of the streets. Were they initially going to have destructible lamps or different lighting?

[awesomefriends56]

Since those points on Simian Acres appear to be directly under the bridge, if your theory of the lamps being destructible is correct there could have possibly been a destructible bridge. Just a theory, I thought I would add my thoughts here. It definitely does look like some unused data.

[SunakazeKun]

The bridge is part of the map model and isn't an extra object.

But I also think it's unused data. Since Simian Acres and Angel City were the first levels to be created, the possibility that these points are some leftovers could be true.

EDIT: I looked at these level ingame and I couldn't notice anything. They are unused, for sure.

[queueRAM]

Some interesting updates.

​Wiki
Now that Origami64 has a wiki, I've ported all my Blast Corps notes there: https://wiki.origami64.net/blast_corps . I'll keep posting and updating things there, so check that out instead of the .txt files.

​Level Offset 0x58
Level offset 0x58 is only in two levels: Angel City (lagp) and Obsidian Mile (level26). The data for both levels is the same:

0B3F 0101 0581 0000

If interpreted as an X,Y,Z coordinate, it is a point up high in the lower left corner of the level, as demonstrated by the magenta box in these screenshots. I haven't even a guess as to what it is used for.


​Missing Terrain Data
Simian Acres and its derived levels (Falchion Field, Morgan Hall, Mica Park) are all missing terrain data near the corner of the first pond, as seen in the blue polygon here in this screenshot:


As a demonstration of the missing data in-game, the J-Bomb is unable to stomp on the missing terrain data. The game starts the stomp animation, but pretends like the J-Bomb is already on the ground immediately. The J-Bomb will not be pulled back down due to gravity until it walks over to valid terrain data. This video shows it in action:



SunakazeKun has also been posting this and a lot of other cool things on The Cutting Room Floor wiki. Check out his work there on the Blast Corps pages.

​Blast Corps Editor Previews
I also wanted to show some previews of the upcoming Blast Corps Editor release. SunakazeKun has been doing an awesome job beta testing for me, but I may want some more testers in the next release since it has some 3D dependencies. Let me know if you're interested.

​3D Preview - Showing terrain, collision, carrier route, buildings, RDUs, and square blocks.


​Texture Viewer / Exporter - Super Secret Bovine Bonus!

[Nutta]

Wow you've done so much already, this is amazing.